Where Midway Launches While Oriole Beach Gets a New Ramp

Santa Rosa County closed the Oriole Beach Boat Ramp at 3169 Linden Avenue on Monday, August 24, and does not expect to reopen it until Saturday, February 20, 2027, weather permitting. The county is taking out the old ramp and pouring a new concrete one. It is also stabilizing the shoreline and rebuilding stormwater drainage, parking, landscaping and signs. Sales tax dollars are helping pay for the project.

The entrance from Linden Avenue and Shady Pine Drive is closed too. Linden Avenue residents are being sent around by way of Bay Street to Oriole Beach Road and back to Linden. For anyone in Midway who kept a trailer hitched and the Sound a few minutes away, every trip between now and late February comes with a fee or a longer drive. The rest of this post works out which one fits how often you go.

The closure runs through the best months on the water

The timing hurts. The weekend before the ramp project hit its sixth week, Half Hitch Tackle's Navarre store posted its daily fishing report:

Yesterday's catch around the pier included Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, and ladyfish. Got-Cha plugs are a good choice for Spanish mackerel. Along the beach, pompano are starting to show up in numbers, so it's definitely worth getting a pompano rig in the water.

That report is dated October 3, 2026, the same weekend the Navarre Fishing Rodeo ran October 3 and 4 at Navarre Beach. The pompano are arriving and the mackerel are still around the pier, so the fishing is in full swing.

Counting from today, October 5, about 20 weeks are left before the projected reopening. Twenty weeks is the number that decides which workaround makes sense.

There's a second construction project in the area. Gulf Breeze's boating and fishing upgrade at Woodland Park was about 25% complete as of the city's September 21 update. That work comes from a $1.2 million Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission grant for Shoreline Park South and Woodland Park, including a relocated floating dock at Woodland. A third site, Vista Park, was dropped from the plan. With work still underway, Woodland Park isn't a launch to count on this fall.

The Gulf Breeze option, and when the annual pass pays off

The closest launch with clearly posted operating rules is Shoreline Park South in Gulf Breeze. Gulf Breeze Parks and Recreation lists boat launch hours of sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. Parking is paid for every nonresident vehicle, and Midway is outside Gulf Breeze city limits, so nonresident rates apply to Midway residents.

The posted rates:

At that rate, one trip with a trailer costs about $20: $10 to park and $10 to launch. The $150 annual permit pays for itself on the eighth trip. Someone who launches every weekend until the February 20 target date would make about 20 trips. At $20 apiece that comes to around $400, compared with $150 for the permit. Someone who goes out twice a month would make about 10 trips and spend around $200, so the permit still comes out ahead. Someone who goes out once a month is better off paying per trip.

Residents of the city get both permits free. Veterans with a 100% disability rating can have permit fees waived through the Resident Annual Pass Form.

A permit bought this fall also stays in your wallet after Oriole Beach reopens. Whether that matters depends on how often you'd launch from Gulf Breeze in a normal year.

Heading east, where the county ramp is free

Going the other direction on Gulf Breeze Parkway puts you at the Navarre Beach Boat Ramp. Santa Rosa County lists it with parking, a pier and a floating dock. The trade-off is the drive and how full the lot gets on busy days. On July 12, 2025, the county put out an alert saying the lot was full during the Blue Angels airshow on Pensacola Beach and asked boaters to find other launch sites. A free ramp is only useful if there's room to park, so on big event weekends it's smart to have a backup in mind.

Paddlers have an easier option nearby. Navarre Beach Marine Park has an ADA-accessible kayak launch on the Soundside behind the Red Drum pavilion, and the park map notes plenty of parking throughout. A kayak on a roof rack doesn't need a ramp, so the Oriole Beach closure costs paddlers far less than it costs trailer boaters.

Two county ramps to check before you hitch up

The county's facility directory still lists two more free ramps that could save Midway boaters the trip to Navarre. In both cases, the public information leaves open questions, so check first.

• Woodlawn Beach Boat Ramp. The county's facility page lists parking, a pier and no admission fee. The most recent county notice we found about its status announced a reopening on May 10, 2024, after an earlier construction closure. That notice is more than two years old. Call the county or drive past before you plan a morning around it.
• Bal Alex Boat Ramp. The county's facility record lists a concrete ramp, a pier, parking and no admission fee. The record doesn't say which body of water it opens onto, so check where you'll come out before you go.

Santa Rosa County's own suggestion for finding an open ramp is its facilities search. Choose "Boat Ramps" as the facility type, then run the search.

Fishing this fall without towing a boat

Some people will skip the trailer until February. Here are the local businesses that make that possible.

Santa Rosa Yacht Club is at 300 Pensacola Beach Road in Gulf Breeze. The club has 129 dry slips and 40 wet slips. Monthly rentals include launching and retrieving your boat as needed, set up by text message. Rental prices include a $59 monthly membership fee for the club's facilities. Renters also need proof of vessel liability insurance, with the club named as an additional insured. It's a monthly commitment, not a day-launch alternative. It may suit someone already thinking about dry storage.

Navarre Beach Ski & Sail works from a rental hut at Juana's Pagodas, 1451 Navarre Beach Causeway. It rents pontoon boats, single and tandem kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, Hobie Cat sailboats and jet skis, and renters launch right from the Juana's waterfront.

Navarre Family Watersports rents single and double kayaks with life jackets included. On rentals of four hours or longer, you can take the kayak to a different location. That makes it possible to rent in Navarre and paddle somewhere closer to home.

Navarre-SUP rents one- and two-person kayaks and paddleboards from Navarre Beach Pier and also offers delivery.

For bait and tackle, Gulf Breeze Bait & Tackle is at 825 Gulf Breeze Parkway. Holley Bait & Tackle is at 7456 Jesse Road in Navarre. Holley stocks live and frozen bait, saltwater and freshwater tackle, and kayaks, and handles rod repair and custom rods. Half Hitch Tackle's Navarre store at 8711 Navarre Parkway is open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and posts the daily fishing report quoted above.

Dates on the water before the ramp reopens

Two events this fall are good reasons to head to the beach while the ramp is closed:

1. Octurtle Fest, Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center, 8740 Gulf Blvd. The event listing mentions a local vendor market, a treat walk and fall activities.
2. Cast for a Cause: The Derrick Stone Surf Fishing Tournament, Saturday, November 14, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Navarre Beach's Blue Heron Pavilion. Together We Thrive, Inc. is the host. It's a surf tournament, so the Oriole Beach closure doesn't matter for this one. You can fish the beach from shore without a boat.

The county's target date for the new ramp is February 20, 2027. The county has said the reopening is weather permitting.

If you live near Oriole Beach or Woodlawn Beach and have wondered how easy water access affects what your home is worth, our team can walk you through the numbers for your street. Start with your instant home valuation from William Maybin, then give us a call and we'll talk about how being close to the Sound shows up in Midway sales.